Glossary of Common Knowledge

Beyond the conventional usage of the language in contemporary art

A list of terms associated with six referential fields, as proposed by a number of narrators in the course of several seminars, to negotiate various positions, contexts and local narratives about contemporary art referential fields. The aim of proposing six referential fields (historicization, subjectivization, geopolitics, constituencies, commons, and other-institutionality) is to meet the need for discussions that can address various localities and temporalities. Contemporary art contains a variety of social, historical, cultural and political references that exist as referential fields outside the focal ideas, concepts, and artworks themselves. These references also condition the form and practice of artistic production.

The topic of the first seminar of the Glossary of Common Knowledge was historicisation. The seminar was based on the idea of the informal systems of historicisation that are practiced by artists who have had to search for their own historical or interpretive context, because of the lack of a suitable collective history. In many parts of the world, the local institutions that should have systematised the neo-avant-garde art either did not exist or took a dismissive attitude towards such art. Consequently, the artists themselves were often forced to archive documents relating to their own art, the art of others, or broader art movements, as well as the conditions of production.

Curated by Zdenka Badovinac (MG+MSUM, Ljubljana, Slovenia), Bojana Piškur (MG+MSUM, Ljubljana, Slovenia). Jesús Carrillo (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain)

archive

Cristina Freire

The archive has perhaps become an overstressed concept in the last few decades (…)

constellation

Thomas Lange

Within the political-sociological-economic-historical field of ongoing modernity (…)

contemporary, the

Beatriz Herráez, Jesús Carrillo, Francisco Godoy Vega

The term “contemporary” seems to go against the nature of a glossary, at least (…)

emancipation

Anej Korsika, Bojana Piškur

What we mean when we say “left” and Yugoslavia are actually the three historical (…)

estrangement

Stephen Wright

Strange how many terms spring to mind with respect to historicisation. But, then (…)

heterochronia

Paul B. Preciado

The term “heterochronia” [1] tries to address the question of the politics of a (…)

humanism

Keti Chukhrov

If we were to list the rebukes to humanism, starting with Nietzsche and (…)

INTRO: Interrupted Histories

Zdenka Badovinac

Ten Years Later Over ten years ago I curated an exhibition entitled Interrupted (…)

intuition

Meriç Öner

SALT suggested the term “intuition”, with the aim of revealing the (…)

pathological fracture

Ania Szremski

In medical terminology, a pathological fracture is a broken bone caused by a (…)

phantom (pain)

Gabi Ngcobo

Re-entering history is an endeavour that permits us to pursue the past with a (…)

reconstruction

Anders Kreuger

At M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, we have discussed the overall (…)

self-historicisation

Zdenka Badovinac

Self-historicisation refers to any informal system of historicisation that is (…)

temporalities

Jesús Carrillo, Francisco Godoy Vega

“ Península. Colonial processes in art and curatorial practices ” is a (…)

temporally embodied sound

Colin Chinnery

History is usually conveyed by text, physical artefacts, photographs, or films. (…)

tendencies in art

Dušan Grlja

The expression “tendencies in art” is typically used to depict artistic currents (…)